What if?
by TantalumCobolt
Summary: These are a collection of one-shots that explore the question 'What if...'. They occur throughout the series and explain what could have happened if something had been done differently.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: I was looking at my AR books the other day and I thought of the question; what if Alex hadn't jumped out of the window? This story is the result of that idea. It will probably be the first in a series of '_what if...__'_stories that I'm planning on writing. I hope you enjoy!**

**DISCLAIMER: 'Dear Sant, for christmas I want the right to the Alex Rider books.' Anyone get the feeling I don't already own them? Yeah, me too.**

* * *

**CHAPTER 1 - What if Alex hadn't jumped?**

It was a stupid idea. It wasn't even worth thinking about. Alex turned around and sat back down on the chair to wait for Mr Crawley to return.

* * *

Two floors above, Mr Blunt and Mrs Jones sat in front of a computer screen.

"He didn't do it," murmured Blunt.

Mrs Jones stared at him. "Of course he didn't! The boy isn't stupid!"

Blunt picked up the phone on his desk. "Delay Crawley and send Agent McKye to room 1505."

"Alan-" Mrs Jones began.

"It must be done," Blunt interrupted. "We need him... and he needs us."

Mrs Jones turned her attention back to the screen and noticed that something had occurred while they'd been talking.

"Alan, the boy is gone."

* * *

On the 15th floor of the Royal & General Bank Alex Rider stood waiting for the lift. He was hidden just around the corner so that when Crawley exited he wouldn't be seen, but he could easily slip into the lift without being noticed. 2 minutes later there was a _ding! _as the lift doors opened, but instead of Crawley another man stepped out. As soon as the man was walking down the hallway and the doors were beginning to close Alex slipped through the gap and into lift that would carry him to the ground floor.

3 and a half minutes later Alex was walking across the lobby towards the doors. He didn't know why, but he knew he had to get out of the bank as soon as possible.

* * *

Special Agent Josh McKye stood in the middle of room 1505. Only one thought was running through his head; _it's empty. _He'd been told to go to room 1505 and get the child who was in there. Simple. Easy. Nobody had counted on the boy going missing. He was pulled from his confused thoughts by the _beep beep _of his communicator.

"McKye," he answered.

"The boy is gone."

"I noticed," McKye answered, trying not to sound sarcastic. "Should I find him?"

"No, we've got agents looking for him already. You aren't needed anymore."

Without waiting any longer, Josh McKye turned and left the room.

* * *

Half a block down from the bank Alex Rider walked along the street. He was glad that he had gotten out of the building, though he was unsure why he dreaded having to go back there again. With a small shrug he dismissed any thoughts of the bank and continued his walk to the tube station.

10 minutes later he was sitting on the tube. 20 minutes later he was walking through the front door of his house in Chelsea, blissfully unaware of what had happened after he had escaped.

* * *

Blunt and Jones were standing in the security room located on the 18th floor of the Royal & General Bank. This room 3 of it's walls covered in screens that showed live feed from every room of the bank, including the vaults. 3 other men were there as well, security guards who monitored the video cameras.

"He has to be here somewhere," said Blunt. "If he somehow managed to leave the 15th floor he can't have gone far."

"Sir?" one of the guards asked.

"Have you found him?"

"No sir, but you should come and look at this..."

It was because they were searching each of the monitors carefully that they noticed the armed men who broke into the building. If they hadn't noticed them when they did a bomb would have been placed inside one of the bank vaults. If the bomb had gone off the whole building would have collapsed. Nobody would have survived.

Scorpia would have claimed responsibility for the fall of MI6 and the death of hundreds.

**AN: Well, that ending was unexpected, even to me. I'm sorry it was so short – only 614 words - but I couldn't figure out how to make it longer without adding boring details that nobody wants to read about. Please review and let me know what you think. Should I write more stories based on the question _'What if..."_?**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter and added this story to their favourites or alerts! I'm sorry it took a while to update even though it's so short, and I don't even have a good excuse. I just got distracted by this annoying thing called 'real life'.**

**Reply to TomC: The decision of Alex saying no and Scorpia attacking was purely coincidental. I wasn't actually planning on ending it like that, it just happened. I'm not quite sure how that violates the typical 'What if..?' convention though.**

**Reply to Eaglistic: Thank you for reading, I'm really glad you enjoyed it!**

**DISCLAIMER: I counted the money in my piggy bank last night, I have $7.40. I'm saving up to by the rights to the Alex Rider books, which means I sadly don't own them... yet.**

**Chapter 2 – What if Alex had shot Yassen in France?**

"_You killed Ian Rider," Alex said. "He was my uncle."_

_Yassen shrugged. "I kill a lot of people."_

"_One day I'll kill you."_

* * *

"Do you really have it in you, Alex? Can you make your finger obey you? Can you kill me?"

Alex stared straight into the assassin's eyes. "Yes."

There was a faint look of surprise on the assassin's face as he realised Alex _could _and _would _shoot him. For a second the world seemed to stop moving as Alex and Yassen stared at each other.

The gun was aiming right at Yassen's heart.

Alex pulled the trigger.

* * *

Hours later Alex would wonder what had made him do it. He would think about what he had done, and he would regret it. But right now, he felt nothing.

His head was throbbing from when he'd been thrown against the wall after firing the gun.

"Alex?"

He opened his eyes but immediately closed them when the room tilted.

"Alex!"

He felt someone grab his shoulders and he tried to fight them, but his body wasn't responding to his brain's demands to push the person away.

"Come on Alex!"

The voice was becoming more insistent, almost frantic. Slowly he opened his eyes, blinking rapidly in an attempt to see clearly.

"Oh Alex, thank god! I was so worried about you."

Sabina was leaning over him, a relieved look on her face.

"Where am I?" he asked.

Her face fell. "You don't remember?"

"I remember seeing the house, and then... nothing," Alex said. "Where am I?"

Sabina frowned. "You're in the hospital Alex. The police found you lying on the jetty, after you left the house."

Images suddenly flashed before Alex's eyes. A boat. A gun. Yassen.

"I killed him," Alex whispered.

Sabina misinterpreted the words, thinking he was talking about Edward Pleasure. "No you didn't Alex, he's still alive. It couldn't have been your fault anyway. The police said it was a gas leak that caused the explosion."

Alex closed his eyes. The scene kept replaying in his head, over and over and over.

Saying he could kill him. The surprise on Yassen's face. Firing the gun. Then... nothing. It was though he had woken up from a nightmare just after he'd pulled the trigger, but he hadn't. It had all been real.

'Do you want me to call the doctor, or a nurse," Sabina asked.

Alex shook his head. "No, I'm just going to sleep."

Sabina gave him one last smile before leaving the room. Alex couldn't sleep though. Every time he closed his eyes he saw Yassen's face and saw himself pull the trigger.

One thought kept swirling around his head. _I'm a murderer._

* * *

"Sir? Are you alright?"

Yassen opened his eyes and looked at Raoul. "I'm perfectly fine." He sat up and almost winced in pain. "Maybe a bit bruised."

After all, not even a thick kevlar vest can stop the force of a bullet from causing bruising, especially when the gun is fired from such close range.

"What happened to Alex?" Yassen asked.

'We left him on the jetty like you asked," France answered. "The police picked him up 15 minutes ago."

"Good, lets hope we never meet again."

* * *

Alex Rider stood outside Blunt's office on the 17th floor of the Royal & General Bank. After being released from hospital he had been flown back to England and was immediately summoned to Blunt's office.

Hesitantly he lifted his hand and knocked on the door.

"Come in," Blunt called.

Alex entered the office and was surprised to see that Mrs Jones wasn't standing by her superiors side as she usually was.

"What did you want to talk about?" Alex demanded.

"How was your holiday in France?" Blunt asked. "I heard about the accident with Edward Pleasure."

"I know who did it," Alex said, his voice gaining an icy quality to it.

Blunt raised an eyebrow slightly.

"It was Yassen Gregorovich."

Blunt frowned slightly. "How do you know this Alex?"

Alex stared straight into Blunt's eyes. "I killed him."

It was at that point that Alex saw the most emotion ever seen on Blunt. His face clearly showed his shock, that Alex had killed Yassen and that he could admit it so easily.

"You are aware that is murder?" Blunt asked.

Alex nodded.

"I'm sorry Alex but you will have to be punished," Blunt didn't sound sorry at all. "As you are underage you will go to Juvenile prison until you are 18."

* * *

Yassen entered the Widow's Palace just after dark. Julia Rothman had called him in to talk about a job. He knocked on her office door before entering.

She looked up as he came to stand in front of her desk. "Mr Gregorovich."

"Ms Rothman."

"I have a proposition for you." she said. "I believe you are familiar with Alex Rider?"

Yassen stayed silent.

"It has recently come to our attention that he is an agent for MI6, and quite a successful one at that. I think he would be very useful to us."

"What am I supposed to do?" Yassen asked.

Julia smiled. "Find him, and recruit him."

Yassen nodded and turned to leave. Just as he reached the door Julia spoke again. "Welcome back to the realm of the living Yassen."

* * *

3 days later Alex was sitting in a cell with 2 other boys his age. It was late at night and he should have been sleeping but his thoughts refused to let him relax. He had been constantly on alert since he had arrived at the prison the prison 2 days previously. He was startled out of his thoughts by a voice beside him.

"Alex."

His head turned sharply to stare at the person while his arm moved to punch the person. His fist never connected though because the person dodge and then grabbed his hand.

"Alex, it's me."

"Yassen?" Alex whispered.

The person nodded. "Come with me Alex, I'm here to get you out."

Silently Alex left his hard bed and followed Yassen through the twisting corridors until they came to a set of stairs. Quickly they crept up the stairs until they came out on the roof where a helicopter was waiting.

"You're supposed to be dead," Alex accused.

The corner of Yassen's mouth lifted in what could have been a smile. "Clearly I am alive."

"I killed you," Alex said.

"I was wearing a bullet proof vest Alex," Yassen replied.

After that they lapsed into silence, and eventually Alex fell asleep. Hours later he woke up on the island of Malagosto and had began his training as a Scorpia assassin.

**AN: Okay, I really don't like this one-shot, at least it's longer though - 1099 words. I thought the beginning was alright but it just got worse as it went on and the ending was really abrupt but, I was running out of time because I'm going away and I promised an update by the end of the week. So now that you all know what I think of it, I wan to know what you think of it. REVIEW!**


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